Hi,There was a time that I thought I would like to have a Toyota Coaster motorhome and travel locally and around Aussie, but I am afraid I am just not interested enough to do that - however - a mate of mine has gone about purchasing and fitting out his Toyota Coaster bus in a very novel way (my mate has no cabinet making skills), as a professionally fitted out motorhome and I thought I would share his experiences with you, since this topic (his way) has not been addressed before.
My mate wanted to buy a Toyota Coaster bus, not very old, with a turbo diesel and I offered to place an advert in the Quokka for him - his ideal price was A$20,000.
After a few days, he was contacted by a man who wished to sell his 2004 Toyota Coaster bus, with turbo diesel (15B 4 cylinder model 4.0 Litre engine with 101,000km on the clock) for A$20,000 and this man put in a new Honda generator, as well, to sweeten the deal - which my mate agreed to purchase the Toyota Coaster bus for at A$18,000, after it had gone over the pits (because it was unregistered at that time) and everything had to be up to scratch to pass the Pits inspection, to get registered, before my mate paid for and took delivery of his bus. There were some issues that had to be addressed by the seller, first.
A 2004 Toyota Coaster bus with 101,000km on the clock was barely run in - so it pays to advertise what sort of vehicle you want, rather than wait for the vehicle of your choice to be advertised, because it was a person to person sale and not in competition with other potential buyers, as well.
This man had purchased a de-registered twin axle caravan from Pickles Auctions which he onsold to my mate for A$6,000 and my mate removed the sides of that caravan and over about 7 days, pulled out countless staples and undid several screws to dismantle the beds, cabinets, cupboards and shelving and cooker (oven and gas burners, professionally fitted into their cabinet) refrigerator, freezer, AC airconditioning unit and everything else from inside the caravan, including lighting, smoke alarm, radio, the AC connection on the outside of the caravan and the fresh water tank, from inside the caravan, all of the wiring, copper tubing and water hoses - and so on - to build into his motor home.
Pickles sell de registered caravans at auction, so it is really just a case of going and looking at the insides of whatever caravans are being sold and you deciding if the contents are a good fit for your Coaster and bidding at auction day, for the caravan of your choice - I understand this caravan cost A$8,000, 7 years ago, at Pickles Auctions, bearing in mind that twin axle caravans usually cost A$50,000 up, second hand.
I think the caravan was a Cormandel, but I can check next time I go over.
Obviously, for someone without cabinet making skills, who wanted to professionally fit out a smaller vehicle, buying a smaller de registed caravan, which can be stripped and put into the empty smaller vehicle would be a cheap and easy alternative to doing it yourself, especially with weight problems otherwise, being the main problem with most home builds.
I understand my mate has a 60cm gap between the beds when they are fitted and a lot more between the other fittings and fixtures - the beds came with the fitted seats-mattresses supplied with the caravan, when new.
This man also had purchased a complete shower and toilet unit, designed to fit into the Coaster bus and my mate got that for A$1,000.
All up, my mate is looking at around A$30,000 for a completely fitted out Toyota Coaster bus which would normally sell for say A$70,000 plus, bearing in mind that all of the cabinets and inside fittings from the caravan were professionally built in the lightest materials and overall won't add to much weight to the basic stripped down weight of his Coaster - which he can still drive on his C Class License.
His Coaster has a wood floor, possibly plywood, to keep the weight down and my mate has removed all of the passenger seats and seat belts and filled the holes left with silicon rubber, to make the bus exhaust gases free - covered up with some carpets at this stage.
He hit on a snag, when he tried to insure his Coaster as a van, which it is registered with the RTA as, because such does not exist, so until he has built his motorhome, he must insure it as a commercial bus and once he has fitted out his coaster and had it approved by the appropriate authorities, he can then provide the insurer with an overall valuation and after his vehicle license has been changed to a motorhome insure it as a motorhome.Query? Is there any Legal Ruling on the internal setup of the fittings and fixtures and shower unit, in particular in his Coaster. He intends to have the shower unit and toilet on the left hand side and very back of his bus and build a thin laminated partition with door, from side to side, in front of this unit, to provide privacy for anyone using the unit, with single beds either side, in front of this partition - and not between the axles as seems to be the normal layout?
